CSO's female trumpet pioneer to be honored at concert

• Speziale became the first female trumpet player in a major orchestra when she joined the Cincinnati Symphony in 1964.

Marie Speziale, former associate principal trumpet of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, will receive the Pioneer Award at the International Women's Brass Conference being held next week at Northern Kentucky University.

The ceremony and opening concert with the Fillmore Wind Band is 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Greaves Hall.

Speziale, who lives in Clifton, became the first female trumpet player in a major orchestra when she joined the Cincinnati Symphony in 1964. She retired in 1996 after 32 years with the orchestra. But retirement didn't mean putting away her trumpet. She has made studio recordings for the TV series "Star Trek: Voyager," and performed and led master classes in Europe, Japan and throughout the United States.

Women have come a long way in brass sections since she started her career 50 years ago, she says.

"We're seeing more and more women being hired in professional settings," she says. "It delights me to say, that in St. Louis, the first orchestra that wouldn't let me audition because I was a woman, now has two women in the trumpet section, and one is principal, a former student of mine in the horn section, and a woman is the associate principal of the trombone section. That's a pretty good statement about how far we've come."

Her faculty appointments include CCM (1979-2002) and Indiana University (1999-2002). She served as chair of the brass department and professor of trumpet at Rice University from 2003-13.

Speziale grew up in Ybor City, near Tampa, Fla., where her father played in a band. Hearing Afro-Cuban-style music in after-hour jazz sessions at home influenced her to want to play trumpet at an early age. Her parents, hand-rollers in a cigar factory, couldn't afford lessons or an instrument. But when she was 10, after testing the highest in her elementary school in music, they found an old cornet in the attic.

The trumpet pioneer credits her teacher and high school band director for encouraging her, even though it was unusual to have a female in the brass section. She proved to be a prodigy. At age 16, she performed on "The Today Show," broadcast live in 1958 from Tampa. Dave Garroway was the anchor.

In 1960, Speziale came to Cincinnati to study at the College-Conservatory of Music with Eugene Blee, then principal trumpet of the CSO. When two orchestra trumpeters became ill, she stepped in at age 19 and played two seasons with the orchestra. In 1964, maestro Max Rudolf hired her. The glass ceiling had already been broken for women in brass sections by Betty Glover, a member of the trombone section.

Still, women in orchestras – especially brass players – were a rarity. When she delivered an impromptu solo with jazz legend Duke Ellington during a Music Hall concert, Downbeat Magazine reported her name as Mario Speziale.

With the orchestra, she played in the Symphony Jazz Quintet, which was featured in numerous Pops concerts under Erich Kunzel. Another jazzman, Dave Brubeck, noticed her in 1969, when the CSO went on European tour with Brubeck's oratorio, "Light in the Wilderness." Just before they played Lincoln Center in New York, they won a spot on "The Tonight Show." Brubeck recruited her, as well as drummer Dave Frerichs and bassist Frank Proto, to appear with him and The Tonight Show Band, led by trumpeter Doc Severinsen, a hero.

Next week, several hundred trombonists, trumpeters, hornists, tubists and euphonium players – including brass and percussion performers from the top military bands in Washington, D.C. – will converge on the NKU campus for concerts, competitions and seminars. The organization – which also has men in its membership – attempts to educate about the past, present and future of women brass musicians.

On Thursday, Speziale will conduct her 35-member, all-women Monarch Brass Ensemble in concert in Greaves Hall.

"It thrills me to see this great brass ensemble made up of professional women, and to think that after so many decades, I've been given the opportunity to conduct them. For me, it's going to be pretty emotional," she says.

Nightly concerts, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, are open to the public ($5 admission). For more information, visit myiwbc.org.